Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-03-28

away. Come in through Christ, the wide
! doOr-the door that swings out toward
you. Come in, and be saved. Come and
be happy. "rhe spirit and the bride say,
come" Room in the arki Room IN the
ark!
But do not come alone. The text in
vites you to bring your family. "Come
thou and all thy house" That means
your wife and your children. You cannot
drive them in. If Noah had tried TO drive
the pigeons and the doves into the ark,
| he would only have scattered them. some
| parents are not wise about these things.
They make iron rules about Sabbaths,
and they force the catechism down the
| throat. as they would hold the child's
nose aud force down dose of rhuharb
and calomel. You cannot drive your
children into the ark. You can draw
your children to Christ, but you cannot
c0erce them. The cross was lifted, not
to drive, but to draw. eli be lifted up,
| will draw all men unto me-" AS the
sun draws up the drops OF morning dew,
so the Sun of righteousness eXhales the
tears OF repentance.
"Come thou and all thy house into the
ark" BE sure that you bring your
husband and wife with you. How would
Moan have felt II, when he heard the rain
patterIhg on the roof OF the ark, he knew
that his wife was outside In the storm?
of you are on the ship "outward-bOund"
for heaven, but your companion Is un-
sheltered. You remember the day when
the marriage ring was set. Nothing has
yet been able to break it. Sickness came
and the finger shrank, but The ring staid
on. The twain stood alone above a
child's grave, aud the dark mouth OF the
tomb swallowed up a Thousand hopes;
but the ring dropped not into the open
nf
hand did many hard days work, but
the rubbing of the work against the ring
only made it shine brighter. Shall that
ring ever be lost? VIII the iron clang OF
the sepulchre gate crush it forever? /
pray God that you that who
have been married on earth may
be together in heaven. on! by
the quiet bliss of your earthly home, by
the babes cradle, by all the vows OF that
day when you started life together, beg
you to see TO 1t that you both yet into the
ark.
Come in, aud bring your wife or your
husband with yOu-nOt by fretting about
religion, or ding-donging them about re-
llgion, but by consistent life, and by Il
compelling prayer that shall bring the
throne of God down into your bedroom,
Better live in the smallest house in Brook
lyn and get into heaven, than live fifty
years in the finest house on Madison
square, and wake up at last and lind that
one OF you, for all eternity, 10 outside the
ark. Go home tonight; lock the door of
| your room; take up the Bible and read 1t
together, and then kneel down and COM
mend your souls to Him who has watched
you all these years; and. before you rise,
there will be a fiuttering of wings over
| your head, angel crying to angel: "Be-
hold they prayP'
But this does not include all your
family. Bring the children too. God
bless the dear children. What would our
homes be without them? We may have
done much for them. They have done
more for us. What salve for wounded
heart there is in the soft palm of chiId's
hand! Did harp or flute ever have such
music as there is in child's "good-
nightW From our coarse, rough life, the
angels of God are often driven back; but
who comes into the nursery without feel
ing that angels are lowering around?
They who die in infancy go into glory,
but you are expecting your children to
| grow up in this world, ls 1t not ques-
ton, then, that rings through all the cor
ridors, and windings, aud heights, and
depths of your soul, what is to become OF
| your sons and daughters tor time and for
| eternity. "OV you say, 81 mean TO see
that they have good manners" Very
| we'll. ~ mean to dress them well If l
have myself to 60 shabby" Very good.
81 shall give them an education, and |
shall leave them a fortune" Very we'll.
! But is that all: Don't you mean TO take
| them into the ark? Don't you know that
| the storm is coming, and that out OF
| Christ there is no safety? no pardOn2 no
| nope! no heaven?
How to get them in? Go In yourself.
| If Noah had staid out 90 you not suppose
that his sons, Shem, Ham and Japhet,
would have staid out? Your sons and
| daughters are apt to do just as you do.
Reject Christ yourself, and the PROBABLE
| ity is that your children will reject Him.
| An account was taken OF the religious
| condition of families in a certain dis
| trict. In the families OF pious parents
| two-thirds Of the children were Chris
| tans. In the families where the parents
| were ungodly only One-twelfth OF the
| children were Christians. Responsible
as you are for their temporal existence,
| you are also responsible for their eter-
! nifty. Which way will you take themi
out into the deluge or INTO the arki Have
| YOU ever made one earnest prayer tor
| their immortal souls? what will you
say IN the judgment when God asks:
"Where Is George, or Henry, or Franz,
or Mary, or Anna? Where are those
precious souls whose interests L commit
ted into your handsp'
A dying son said to his father: "Father,
you gave me an education and good man.
ners, and everything that the world could
do for me; but, father, you never told me
how to die, and now my soul is going out
in the darkness"
90 home and erect a family altar. You
may break down in your prayer. But
never mind. God will take what you
mean, whether you express it intelligibly
or not. Bring all your house into the ark.
Is there one son whom you have given uD?
Is he so dissipated that you have stopped
couuseling and praying? Give him up?
How dare you give HIM up? Did God
ever give thee up? Whilst thou hast
single articulation OF speech left, cease
not TO pray for the return of that prOdi-
gal. he may even now be standing on
the beach at Hong Kong or Madras, medl-
tating return to his iatner's house
Give MIN up? Never give him up. Has
God promised to hear thy prayer only to
mock theei 10 is not too late.
In St. PauPs, London, there ia
whispering-gallery. A voice uttered most
feebly at one side of the gallery is heard
distinctly at the opposite side, "A great dis
tance of. SO, every word OF earnest
prayer goes all around the earth, and
makes heaven a wbisperIng-gallery. Go
into the grk--not 10 sit down, but to
stand in the door, and call until all the
family come in. Aged Noah, where is
Japhetf David, where is Absaloms